Montreal International Jazz Festival
The Festival International de Jazz de Montréal (English: Montreal International Jazz Festival) is an annual jazz festival held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Montreal Jazz Fest holds the 2004 Guinness World Record as the world's largest jazz festival. Every year it features roughly 3,000 artists from 30-odd countries, more than 650 concerts (including 450 free outdoor performances), and welcomes over 2 million visitors (12.5% of whom are tourists) as well as 300 accredited journalists. The festival takes place at 20 different stages, which include free outdoor stages and indoor concert halls. A major part of the city's downtown core is closed to traffic for ten days, as free outdoor shows are open to the public and held on many stages at the same time, from noon until midnight. The "festival's Big Event concerts typically draw between 100,000 and 150,000 people", and can occasionally exceed 200,000. Shows are held in a wide variety of venues, from relatively small jazz clubs to the large concert halls of Place des Arts. Some of the outdoor shows are held on the cordoned-off streets, while others are in terraced parks. It should not be confused with the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, which is the second largest jazz festival in the world after Montreal's. The Montreal Jazz Festival was conceived by Alain Simard, who had spent much of the 1970s working with Productions Kosmos bringing artists such as Chuck Berry, Dave Brubeck, Chick Corea, Bo Diddley, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, and others to Montreal to perform. In 1977, Simard teamed up with André Ménard and Denys McCann to form an agency named Spectra Scène (now known as L'Équipe Spectra), with the idea of creating a summer festival in Montreal that would bring a number of artists together at the same time. They planned their first festival for the summer of 1979. Unable to secure sufficient funding, their plans were scuttled, but they still were able to produce two nights of shows at Théâtre-St-Denis featuring Keith Jarrett and Pat Metheny. The first Montreal Jazz Festival was in 1980, with funding from Alain de Grosbois of CBC Stereo and Radio-Québec. With Gary Burton, Ray Charles, Chick Corea, and Vic Vogel on the bill, and an attendance of 12,000, the event was deemed a success and has continued to grow since then. Concours de Jazz Established in 1982, the Concours de Jazz is an annual competition held at the Montreal International Jazz Festival. The competition takes place between Canadian groups performing original music, and is part of the festival's outdoor program. Throughout its history the prize has been awarded to many of Canada's most prominent jazz musicians. Name changes 1982-1986 – Concours de Jazz 1987-1992 – Prix de Jazz Alcan 1993-1999 – Prix de Jazz du Maurier 2000-2009 – Grand Prix de Jazz General Motors 2012–present – TD Grand Jazz Award, sponsored by Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD Bank) Winners 1982 – Michel Donato 1983 – Quartz 1984 – Lorraine Desmarais Trio 1985 – François Bourassa 1986 – Jon Ballantyne Trio 1987 – Hugh Fraser Quintet 1988 – Edmonton Jazz Ensemble 1989 – Fifth Avenue 1990 – Creatures of Habit 1991 – Steve Amirault Trio 1992 – James Gelfand Trio 1993 – Chelsea Bridge 1994 – Normand Guilbeault Ensemble 1995 – Jean-François Groulx Trio 1996 – Roy Patterson Quartet 1997 – Joel Miller Quintet 1998 – John Stetch Trio 1999 – Chris Mitchell Quintet 2000 – Eduardo Pipman Quartet 2001 – Nick Ali and Cruzao 2002 – Andrew Downing and The Great Uncles of the Revolution 2003 – Nancy Walker 2004 – Odd Jazz Group 2005 – Alex Bellegarde Quartette 2006 – David Virelles Quintet 2007 – Félix Stüssi and Give Me Five 2008 – Arden Arapyan 2009 – Amanda Tosoff Quartet 2010 – Parc X Trio 2011 – Alexandre Côté Quintet 2012 – Robi Botos 2013 – Hutchinson-Andrew Trio 2014 – Pram Trio 2015 – Rachel Therrien Quintet 2016 – Brad Cheeseman Group 2017 – Allison Au Quartet Montreal Jazz Festival 1980 Montreal Jazz Festival 1981 Montreal Jazz Festival 1982 Montreal Jazz Festival 1983 Montreal Jazz Festival 1984 Montreal Jazz Festival 1985 Montreal Jazz Festival 1986 Montreal Jazz Festival 1987 Montreal Jazz Festival 1988 Montreal Jazz Festival 1989 Montreal Jazz Festival 1990 Montreal Jazz Festival 1991 Montreal Jazz Festival 1992 Montreal Jazz Festival 1993 Montreal Jazz Festival 1994 Montreal Jazz Festival 1995 Montreal Jazz Festival 1996 Montreal Jazz Festival 1997 Montreal Jazz Festival 1998 Montreal Jazz Festival 1999 Montreal Jazz Festival 2000 Montreal Jazz Festival 2001 Montreal Jazz Festival 2002 Montreal Jazz Festival 2003 Montreal Jazz Festival 2004 Montreal Jazz Festival 2005 Montreal Jazz Festival 2006 Montreal Jazz Festival 2007 Montreal Jazz Festival 2008 Montreal Jazz Festival 2009 Montreal Jazz Festival 2010 Montreal Jazz Festival 2011 Montreal Jazz Festival 2012 Montreal Jazz Festival 2013 Montreal Jazz Festival 2014 Montreal Jazz Festival 2015 Montreal Jazz Festival 2016 Montreal Jazz Festival 2017 Montreal Jazz Festival 2018